Columbia Plaza Associates, which spearheaded the development of One Lincoln, came out of the deal with 15 percent of the profit, putting the team of black, Chinese and Latino investors in the upper echelons of minority developers.

“I think this is one of the best projects that I’ve ever been involved in in my life,” said Columbia Plaza Associates developer Ken Guscott, who heads the Long Bay development company. “I feel elated.”

The building is the largest project ever built by developers of color in the country. The 15 percent stake Columbia Plaza Associates has kept in the deal represents the largest profit minority developers have ever cleared in Boston.

The minority developers acquired the site 18 years ago, during the administration of Mayor Raymond Flynn. They invested more than $5 million of their own funds to advance the project.

In Boston, a city where real estate development is as competitive a business as anywhere in the nation, the triumph of the minority developers stands as a major milestone. The developers, who fought to keep their stake in the project over the last 18 years, are still fighting.

Developer Don Chiafaro, who Columbia Plaza Associates hired to co-develop the project, is suing the team, alleging he was unfairly cut out of the deal.

Guscott expressed confidence that the law suit would not prevail.

“We’re absolutely confident,” he said. “Don Chiafaro did not do what he was hired to do — get a financial partner, get tenants for the building and acquire the additional land that was needed for the building.”

After Chiafaro was cut out of the deal, Columbia Plaza Associates partnered with the Gale Company and the Ohio State Teachers Pension Fund, each of which was given a 42 percent cut of the deal.

From the outset, the minority developers went against the grain of the city’s real estate development industry, cutting minority workers and firms in on an unprecedented percentage of the business.

Architect Yu Sing Jung, an investor in the project, drew up the plans for the building. Contractor Ted Webster performed the $15 million excavation of the site, formerly occupied by a city-owned parking garage.

“He did it on-time and on-budget,” Guscott commented.

Guscott and the other minority developers on the project also made sure that people of color had unprecedented access to the union-controlled building trades jobs.

“We had blacks working on all aspects of the project,” Guscott commented. “We told the unions ‘if we don’t work, you don’t work.’ Because minorities put up the equity for the job, we had a seat at the table. Twenty-eight percent of the people who worked on the project were people of color.”

The building project, developed under the city’s parcel-to-parcel linkage program, has paid out $16 million in funds to community organizations — one-third to organizations in Chinatown, one-third to organizations in Roxbury and one-third to organizations city-wide.

Additionally, Columbia Plaza has pledged 10 percent of their net profit from the project to go to community-based organizations. That figure, $4.4 million, was distributed among the community-based organizations Tuesday.

“We are so proud to be a part of this historic deal,” said Paul Chan, a developer with Columbia Plaza Associates in a press statement. “It was so important for us to contribute financial resources, design development input and community participation, especially in a building that is located at the gateway to Chinatown.”

For Guscott, the next move is the redevelopment of the Ferdinand’s building, one of the largest vacant properties in Dudley Square.

“We’re going to be building in Dudley Station,” he said. “The governor said he’s not going to put the Department of Public Health there, but we’re going to build there anyway.”

Guscott says he plans to develop office space and retail in the long-vacant Warren Street furniture building, which abuts the Dudley Station bus terminal.

Guscott says he has a commitment for a tenant for the building and is in discussions with Toula Politis, who owns an adjacent building and vacant lot.

The Ferdinand’s building, which has been vacant since the late ’70s, has for the last four years been at the center of plans to revitalize Dudley Square, but has remained mired in the state’s stalled Department of Public Health plans.

Long Bay is also renovating the Silva Building in Grove Hall, which it will occupy as its new headquarters.

“We feel really strongly that we have to have a presence in the community,” said Guscott, who currently occupies office space on Massachusetts Ave. “We’ll be right in the middle of Grove Hall.”